Sunny lemon carrot soup with spicy chickpeas

And so it did happen. My favourite carrot soup with a generous and deliciously fatty addition of peanut butter was pushed down from the first place on the podium. Maybe it was because my pre-spring impatience subconsciously wants to trigger the real spring. And as I have realised recently, these days I tend to search for the freshness and sunny colours even in the kitchen. It seems like soon it will be time to create a special category on the blog. I will call it „Yellow Food”. I’m not sure why, but I love dishes in this delicious and optimistic colour.

Describing this simple soup, I would say first of all: it’s fresh – the lemony aroma and acidity are well-balanced with the natural sweetness and colour of the carrots; it’s creamy – the addition of the cashews with which the carrots are boiled slightly “whitens” the soup, making it complete in taste and definitely more creamy; it’s surprising – we also have great contrasts here: the citrusy freshness and velvety creaminess combined with the crunchy and spicy fried chickpeas. And the taste itself is also surprising. Anyway, you should ask yourself a question: when was the last time you had the lemon soup?

Sunny lemon carrot soup with spicy chickpeas

5 servings

  • 500g carrots
  • 1 onion
  • 1 garlic clove
  • A handful of cashews (alternatively: sunflower seeds)
  • 2 tbsp of neutral oil for frying
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/3 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 lemon (juice and zest)
  • Salt to taste (at least 2 tsp in my case)
  • 1 cup of cooked chickpeas (or one can of dried chickpeas)
  • 2 tbsp of neutral oil for frying
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika (alternatively: sweet paprika)
  • 1/2 tsp chilli flakes (or a large pinch)
  • A good pinch of salt
  1. Cut the onions into large pieces. Heat the oil in a pot, add the onions, and after two minutes add the turmeric, cumin, cinnamon and a sliced clove of garlic. Stir and fry for one more minute.
  2. Wash the carrots and cut them into small pieces and add them together with a handful of cashews to the pot with onions and spices. Pour some water so that it almost covers the vegetables. Cook with the lid on, until tender, for about 25-30 minutes.
  3. In the meantime prepare the lemon: use a grater to grate the peel of most of the fruit (if the lemon is really large, the peel of half the fruit may be enough), then cut it in half and squeeze the juice out of it.
  4. Add salt, zest and lemon juice to the cooked vegetables (hint: add most of the juice and zest, then blend and taste it – this way you will know if it needs more lemon)
  5. Blend everything with a hand blender. It should take a few minutes to get a really creamy texture. It is a good idea to start blending it coarsely and gradually adding additional sprinkles of water to it (it can even be a glassful) while carrying on blending.

Spicy chickpeas

  1. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the drained chickpeas and fry them for a few minutes until lightly brown.
  2. Add smoked paprika, chilli flakes and salt. Fry for another minute. You can keep the fried chickpeas in a container in the refrigerator for a few days. If it is too spicy for you: don’t worry, the sweetness of the carrot soup will balance it very well!

Serving the soup:

Add a couple of tablespoons of spicy chickpeas to a serving of hot sunny lemon-carrot soup. If you like, add a little olive oil, a few extra drops of fresh lemon juice, freshly ground pepper and a little bit of coriander, dill or parsley.

Still hungry?